Liberty Property Trust plans on completing its year-long repositioning effort this year and expects to sell its remaining suburban office holdings, using most of the proceeds to invest in industrial properties. It's aiming to sell from $600 million to $800 million of assets.

Commercial Real Estate Direct Staff Report

Liberty Property Trust plans on completing its year-long repositioning effort this year and expects to sell its remaining suburban office holdings, using most of the proceeds to invest in industrial properties.

The Malvern, Pa., REIT, which has been shrinking its suburban office exposure since 2011, expects to generate from $600 million to $800 million from sales this year, while investing up to $500 million of the proceeds into industrial properties. When all is said and done, it would continue to own a number of office buildings, but all would be in downtown areas.

Liberty owned 574 properties with 101.6 million square feet at the end of last year, consisting of 94.2 million sf of industrial space and 7.4 million sf of office space. Its portfolio was 96.9 percent leased: 97 percent for industrial and 95.6 percent for office. It also had 23 properties with 6.2 million sf under development.

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